Martha Lerski, a Business Librarian and Assistant Professor at Lehman College, and Alexander Nunez Torres, an assistant professor also at Lehman College, presented a recorded session at Open Ed 2021 entitled “Developing Small Business Case Studies to Serve a Minority-Serving College, Its Community and Beyond.” Lerski spoke about Lehman’s mission as a liberal arts college serving almost thirteen thousand students in New York. I didn’t know about Lehman and that it serves first-generation college students. Nunez Torres wanted to “shed light on what the community is doing” and economics through case studies. They created case studies that are relatable. MIT and Harvard have case studies that focus on large companies. The University of Texas also has similar open access case studies. Their OER project had the goal of creating guidance and structure for instructors. They were forward-thinking and very organized. Nunez Torres mentioned three phases: consent forms and contact of businesses, creation of guidelines and incentives, and editing and production for case studies. I appreciate how they thought about the process and steps to allow for the growth of the project. Nunez Torres explained that the instructor guidelines provided teaching notes and structure to help create case studies that can be readily implemented. The teaching notes included topics, learning objectives, suggestions, guidance, and requirements. This is, in my experience, the hardest part to write, and I appreciate how Nunez Torres helped case writers with templates. Lerski spoke about incentives for case writers for OER creation. This included credit for tenure and promotion packages. Nunez Torres also shared how they used color palettes and formatting guides to produce a consistent look. They used Lehman College colors and typography and mentioned that the colors can be adapted. The case studies they have created so far look very professional and include a record number. They will now obtain student and instructor feedback and encourage instructors to join in their efforts. I am really impressed with the consistency of the case studies and the thought that went into the design of the case study guidelines! I have been thinking about the future of HITS and what we could do to continue promoting high-throughput case studies. Nunez Torres and Lerski have shared a valuable blueprint.
